Untitled
by koholint
Summary: Vaati, sealed away within the Four Sword, has a flashback of his life. Afterwards, he escapes. But all is not as it seems, and he discovers something terrible about himself. Who released him, and why? DISCONTINUED


_So, I seriously doubt that I will continue this. Actually, I read it now and laugh (a bit). I still sort of have the idea for this in my head, but just think of it for now as a really cliff-hangerish one-shot._

_Some of this is based off the Four Swords+ manga by Akira Himekawa. If you haven't read it, go to www(dot)zeldalegends(dot)com and go to the comics/manga page. The entire thing is translated. It's a really good read._

_Enjoy, I suppose. If you laugh, I understand. ;P_

* * *

The nothingness swirls around me. Once again, I have been sealed away inside the Four Sword. 

Why did the hero not listen to my pleas? Why? I had no more hope left… Hyrule could be at peace from me. But he - or rather, they - did not listen. My thoughts drift back to the day when I lost everything. My minions, my ally, and the worst loss of all, my most trusted servant.

I should not call him a servant. He was more like a son to me, or a brother, than anything. He carried out all orders with the greatest care, and he was always loyal. But now he is cold, cold as the blade of the sword that binds me…

My mind must enjoy torturing me so. It turns to the most painful and bitter moments of that day. I remember every detail in one terribly painful retrospect.

* * *

_I lay pathetically on the frigid stone floor in the highest room of my magnificent Castle of Winds. I had lost hope and everything else. Lying there was all I had energy for. Now the heroes were coming and there was nothing more I could do to stop them. I wished for only one thing, one thing only the heroes could give me._

_Death._

_Long ago, I had given my soul to the one I thought would be my ally. I was a fool. In return for a mirror and so-called "favor," I gave it up and was bound by an ancient law. I thought it petty at the time, but now I realize if I'd never made that pact I could leave this world._

_The law stated that I could never kill myself. Someone else had to kill me. I know now why that was so important. I had never wished to die before now, but things had gone from victory to despair in an instant._

_Before, I had always tried to win. My mind was hell-bent on ruling the beautiful country of Hyrule. Two times before I had failed, but this time I felt that I would get my desire._

_I thought my alliance with Ganon, King of Darkness, would make all the difference. "Sure," I'd though, before I'd made the pact, "I have to give him my soul, but I can survive without it." However true that was, I can't believe my own stupidity._

_I sighed gloomily, wishing for my own end and that of my 'ally.' Only the heroes could give me that._

_I wondered why I was not bitter. They had killed every one of my underlings and Shadow, but I did not hate them. Perhaps it was because I would soon follow._

_My keen ears picked up the sound of footsteps. Ah, yes, the heroes were coming. They were still far away, but I had known of their presence the instant they'd entered my Tower. Nothing escaped my sight._

_They were only one flight of stairs from me. I waited, becoming giddy with sick glee as they came closer. My death! Come, come quicker, closer…_

_The first of them burst through the door. Green, was that his name? Dear Shadow had informed me of their nicknames. Shadow… it was he who released me, he who gave me every scrap of information I wanted. It was really thanks to him that I'd even gotten this close to supremacy. _

"_Please," I begged of them, as soon as they were in my sight, "Kill me." _

_The hero's expression changed from one of determination, to shock, and then confusion in a split second. He must've been as resolute to defeat me as I had once been to defeat him. And now all I wished for was his pity, and his sword to cut my throat._

_He was talking to his friends. Friends! Hah! I wished I had had friends. Shadow had been the only one close enough to be considered a 'friend.' Green was talking about me, of course._

"_I bet he has a trick up his sleeve. There's no way he'd be waiting for us like this." I overheard him say. It was enough to make me smile. _

"_Do you really think I so?" I said. " You took everything from me - I just want to end it all. And if I had had something planned, you'd already be dead."_

_That left Green speechless. He knew, along with his three companions, that I spoke the truth, but I didn't know what he was going to do. He walked over towards me._

"_Vaati," he said. "I… I really don't know what to say. But if I agree to kill you, you have to give me any information I want."_

_I nodded, almost imperceptibly, yet Green noticed._

"_Good," he said. "Now where is Princess Zelda?" His eyes showed that he wanted to hurry, and that he was extremely worried. Ah, yes hero, I thought, you love her, do you not?_

"_She… is being held captive. Not by me. If you want to rescue her, you must defeat Ganondorf," I said._

_Red gasped. "Ganondorf? The one from the stories? He's real, isn't he...?" It wasn't really a question._

"_You always listened to the crap that fairy fed you, Red!" Blue snapped. _

_Vio stepped in. "Calm down, Blue," he said coolly. He addressed me. "So. Ganondorf must be the one Shadow told me of. He said you were working for him."_

_I had almost forgotten that Shadow had lured Vio to our side. Now he was back on the 'good' side. Shadow must've told Vio much about the going-ons of the dark side. _

"_Yes," I answered. "That is – was - true. Now I have broken that alliance, and am no longer bound by it, so I will tell you all there is," I heaved a breath, the very act of talking wearing me out. "He is beyond that door, waiting for me to be killed." I feebly motioned towards said door. "I was just a pawn in his game; nothing more than a sort of bodyguard. He figured you'd defeat me, yet be weakened, and he'd have a quick victory." _

"_Well, we'll show that bastard who's boss!" Blue exclaimed, whipping out his sword. "Now let's kill him —" He pointed the blade at me, "And go save Zelda!"_

"_Don't be so hasty!" Vio stated. "He still has a lot more information we could use, I reckon."_

_Green nodded. "What's Ganon's weakness? He has a lot of power... and we need to _win_."_

"_Ganondorf will be hard to defeat. He uses magic and a sword. If you don't get hit by either of those, you'll still be tired from dodging. The easiest thing to do is run into the fight shooting light arrows. I assume you know how to use the force gems to make light arrows, Vio…?"_

_Vio nodded._

"_If Ganondorf is hit in the eyes enough, he'll be temporarily blinded. Take advantage of that before he heals himself. Jam the Four Sword deep into him and kill him. If you fail, try to find another way before you run out of stamina."_

_Green, Blue, Red and Vio nodded grimly. They were about to enter the far door with Ganondorf behind it when I realized something._

"_Green!" I surprised myself by shouting. "What of your part of the bargain?"_

_He turned, slowly. I knew his blue eyes hid my answer, but he kept them hidden from me. I became dizzy; the world span. He wasn't going to do it! My vision blurred, then came back into focus. Rage, which I thought I'd doused, flared within me._

_How dare he? Although he was going to kill Ganon, which was good for me, I did not wish to live anymore. I couldn't continue like this! He MUST kill me!_

_I got to my feet. Anger fueled my once still body. I finally stood, yet panted from the exertion. The heroes did not notice me. I lifted up my hand and began to gather energy in it. He would pay for disobeying me!_

_I screeched and threw the ball of power. It sped, faster and faster, towards Green. He turned around, and just when I thought he was doomed, he swung his sword and hurled the energy back at me. All I saw was a mass of black that engulfed me. An unearthly cry ripped from my throat – a scream._

_I fell to my knees, electricity jumping across (and through) my body. I tried moving, but instead I convulsed violently and collapsed. I gasped for air like a fish out of water; my form heaved with the effort. Green's voice floated into my head._

"_We'll come back after Ganondorf's dead. I promise."_

_I blacked out.

* * *

_

When I awoke, I found myself here. The heroes didn't kill me; they merely sealed me here again. They don't know the torture I'm in! I long for the time when I can escape this prison and find eternal peace.

I continue my wandering. What more can I do? I've been here two times before and I've come to learn that there is nothing here. The powerful magic of the sword keeps me bound here until someone else draws it from its pedestal. I sigh.

I wonder for a second what the strange mist is, what it's made of. Magic, of course. It drifts white around me. The sensation is that of walking through thick, white, unending fog. My days here are spent in boredom.

Fortunately, time in here is different, so I don't have to suffer _too_ long. I learned that when I escaped for the first time. It had been 400 years since my defeat in the real world, yet I had aged only 2 years. I was surprised, yet secretly glad. I still retained my youthfulness.

Yes, sometimes I am quite the narcissist.

I walk through the nothingness. How sad of me to have been miserably sealed away again. My resentment returns. Were they… afraid to kill me? Did they just want to mock me? Perhaps they thought they were being merciful.

Idiots.

I spy a glitter of emerald from the corner of my eye. What is this? I stare at it, and it does not disappear. It grows larger as I make my way towards it. This feels familiar…

Ah, yes. This is what happens every time I am released. The green is the small hint of grass. I begin running.

Who is releasing me now? It can't be Link, can it? Why would he do such a thing?

I run faster. What if the portal closes? I can't bear one more second here. I'm wasting away!

I leap and enter the portal. Then I remember the other part of being released. The pain.

* * *

The portal seems to rip me apart - this is worse than ever before. My mind is on fire, and all I see are flashes of red and orange. I can almost feel my body being turned inside out. It burns! I cannot scream. 

Yet, as with all things, it finally ends. I'm in the Four Sword Sanctuary, barely supported by my hands and knees. I collapse, weak from the escape, panting. I'm dizzy and all I see is black.

Black… it's a change from that white nothingness, at least.

When my head finally clears and I can see properly, I think back to my queries. Who released me? And why, exactly?

…I should just forget that. I can at last finish out my life, in peace. I did not die at the hands of the heroes, so why now?

Maybe there is some purpose for still being alive. My old master, Ezlo, said that everything happened for a reason.

Ezlo! I know where to go now! He'll know everything. He will be shocked to see me, but he'll forgive me. I know it. We can just put the past behind us.

I have forgiven him, too.

I briefly wonder how many years it's been since I saw him last. That was when he organized my first defeat. I decide that it's been at least 600 years. Not too long for one of the Picori...

The portal from Hyrule to the Minish world only opens every hundred years, during the Picori Festival. That may be true for Hylians, but for a Minish… I grin, grimacing slightly from leftover pain. All I need to do is regain my Minish form, and I can enter the portal. That is one easy task for this sorcerer.

I still shake from weakness, but I feel a little better. I carefully sit up and lean against the Four Sword's pedestal. That's when I realize something. The Four Sword is still there!

I sit there, dumbstruck for a moment, and then reach my hand towards the cool metal of the sword. I run my fingers along its edge. I nick myself, and blood seeps from my fingers down my arm.

The sword is real, then. It also still contains all of its power; otherwise it would not have harmed me. How could I have escaped? If the sword had not been drawn by the Hero… did someone call me here?

And yet, I know that is foolish. No one here would call me. I am of no further use to anyone.

My thoughts briefely flit about the idea of Ganon... but, the heroes obviously defeated him. They couldn't have come back and sealed me away if they didn't survive the fight.

No, Ganon didn't call me...

And it wasn't my own power, either. Inside the Four Sword, I have no power. Nothing. All I can do there is bide my time and plot.

My quivering eventually stops and any lingering pain disappears. I feel well enough to walk. I stand, and to my surprise my legs do not give out from under me. I take one step, then another. Yes!

This is very different from my previous escapes. Back then I never had time to recover. The minute I was out, there was a hero waiting to do battle. This is rather… nice. I've never had nice.

Something feels as though it's missing, but I can't quite place my finger on it. But, nothing to worry about for now. It's probably just leftover shock.

I lean on one wall of the sanctuary, breathing heavily. Just those few steps have left me weak again. I'm going to have to rebuild my strength.

Luckily, time is everything I have. I can do anything I want! Never have I felt so free. I can't even remember my motive for attacking Hyrule in the first place.

My breath returns to normal, and I stand on my own. Now's the time to go; I can feel it. If I don't go now, who knows what I might do? What if my rage should find me? I don't want to go mad again...

I close my eyes and point my finger at myself. Here goes nothing… I see a brief light through my eyelids. It would've blinded me had I not shut my eyes.

I feel the transformation. It isn't painful, like other conversions. Usually those hurt. This one doesn't. It's because I'm returning to my other form. My _true_ form. I let out one last sigh before I open my eyes.

When I do, I see the grass towering menacingly above me. A nearby beetle appears gargantuan. The broken pieces of stone on the floor, chipped off from the sides of the sanctuary, loom above me. They cast everything underneath them in darkness.

I had almost forgotten what it was like to be a Minish. I've grown, too, since I was last one. Now I stand a lofty three inches high. By Minish measurements, I'm unusually tall. I blink a few times, still trying to get used to my 'height'.

But I'm this much closer to being home. If this is what it takes, I don't think I'd mind being Minish the rest of my life. I've already had my climax, I think.

Yet... could someone like me - a murderer - regain salvation?

I aim to try.

Now I feel foolish. How am I going to get all the way from the Four Sword Sanctuary to the doorway in Hyrule Castle? I smile faintly at my stupidity. I'm no longer the apprentice - I'm the master. I am a full-fledged sorcerer. There's no way I'm walking.

I call up the wind, my beloved element. There's a reason the wind chose me to be Sorcerer of Winds. Only I can coax it, bend it to my will. It swirls about me, teasing my hair and whipping my robes about. It refreshes my senses and relaxes me. The wind fondles me a bit too roughly and pushes me over.

It catches me before I fall and sets me back on my feet. The element has to get used to my delicacy as a Minish. It caresses my face, as though asking for forgiveness. I smile, and as I do the wind increases its liveliness. It floods the entire Sanctuary, filling it with a violence that would've had the King of Hyrule upon his knees. To me, however, the wind is rather calm, even in my tiny Minish form.

I lift my hand and summon a cyclone. It surrounds me, thrilling me with its majesty. I breathe in the fresh air it brings. The oxygen rushes through my system and fills me with a new resolve. I close my eyes and spread my arms out wide. I call upon the energy inside me - the supernatural powers I was born with. My magic will allow me to use the wind to warp.

Again, I feel something missing…

When I open my eyes, I see with a shock that I'm still in the Four Sword Sanctuary. The wind still eddies around me, but I didn't warp. My enchantment didn't work! I panic, hurriedly glancing from side to side. What happened?

I managed to regain my Minish form and call up the wind, but why couldn't I warp? Something is amiss... perhaps I am still weak from the seal. Calling up the wind and becoming Minish requires no magic, so that was easy to do. Something is affecting my magic...

I experimentally try some out. I choose a fairly easy spell, which I learned when I was... oh, perhaps nine or ten. This simple charm makes plants grow in seconds, and heals ill ones.

I aim at the puny, ailing rosebush that trails up the shrine. It was probably a seed that traveled here by accident, and somehow grew. This is no simple place for a plant to grow in, yet a rose would be a beautiful addition to this sanctuary. I chant the spell and wait for the magic to work.

Nothing happens. I didn't even feel the magic inside me awaken. I breathe, trying to calm my furiously racing heart.

This is a disaster!

* * *

_So yes, this was supposed to be a long story and all that. But, as with everything else, I really can't continue it... I still find it a bit interesting though._

_Sorry, y'all._

_Koholint_


End file.
